New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has announced that the World Championship trials for the men’s 74kg category will be held alongwith other non-Olympic weight classes August 19 and August 20 at the Supervisors Training Centre in Lucknow and the K.D. Jadhav Wrestling Stadium in New Delhi.
The 74kg category, which will feature two-time champion Sushil Kumar, was supposed to be held alongwith the trials for the rest of men’s Olympic weight categories July 26. But the WFI postponed the trials after at least two wrestlers reportedly claimed to be injured and requested for it to be held on a latter date.
It has since emerged that Parveen Rana, considered Sushil’s main rival in the 74kg category, pulled out of the trials with a shoulder injury.
Apart from the men’s 74kg, other weight categories for which trials will be held are men’s 61kg, 70kg, 79kg and 92kg and women’s 55kg, 59kg, 65kg and 72kg. The men’s trials will be held in New Delhi and the women’s in Lucknow.
In the trials that were held in July, Asian Games gold medallists Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Vinesh Phogat (53kg), made it through to the team that will travel to Nur-Ul-Sultan, Kazakhstan for the Worlds that will be held from September 14 to September 22.
Apart from them, the men’s team comprises of Ravi Dahiya (57kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Mausam Khatri (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) while the women’s team includes 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik (62kg), Seema Bisla (50kg), Sarita Mor (57kg), Divya Kakran (68kg) and Kiran Godara (76kg).
